Peach - head under a chair
We just did another session.
While Gimme's listening is improving (her accuracy in actually giving me what I asked for is up quite a bit from before our private lesson), she is still unwilling to give up offering. I want to give her more cues to do things and earn rewards, but she won't stop offering long enough for me to get in a cue. The idea of stop-do-nothing is just not in her plan of action. With her its all about a plan of ACTION. We got four shorter extinction bursts, but they were still there - two to five minutes each.
Upon Ursula's suggestion I tried clicking any time she was still for even the tiniest moment. And for a couple of minutes I thought I was getting somewhere, until I realized what little Miss Smarty Pants was doing. Every time after getting a treat, she was returning to exactly where she was when I last clicked. She was trying to turn it into a free-shaping game. I probably wouldn't have caught on, except one time she happened to be under the table when I clicked, so when she returned to that spot under the table, it was pretty obvious what she was up to.
Makes me wonder if I should put free shaping on some kind of cue. Maybe that would make it clearer to her when we are and when we aren't playing that game. She loves free-shaping with a passion and I'm happy to do it with her, but we need to get over this hump in understanding as well.
While I'm fiddling with some projects tonight, I'm going to try something with her. I'm going to put a bowl of treats where I can reach to it on the kitchen counter, so its not where I am and thus not an obvious cue for training time. Then occasionally will give her a cue and if she does it, she'll get click/treat.
I can also give her the occasional click/treat when she isn't doing anything. That doesn't happen very often if I'm up and about, she's either trying to work me or laying on the couch waiting and watching for an opportunity to start working me. (good Lord, I think I just described a Border Collie!) If she thinks I'm working on a project, she may settle in a bit more.
She's a pistol...
2 comments:
Roger Coor recommended leaving treat bowls at various location in the house so that there was alwaya a reward at hand. They never knew when training started or finished. Keep them guessing
I've done that before, but with her have to really think about where I'll leave them. She is part monkey and would be swinging from the chandelier if I had one.
BTW when I took a bath, she was up and a little restless and once when she was moving in my direction I told her sit just as she turned to lay down. She really flops into that down, so the fact that she sat instead showed me she really was trying. Didn't have any treats in the tub, but I sure gave her a lot of lovin'.
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